Bur oak hillside savanna

This is the time of year when the prairie grasses take on their rich brown color. Our south-facing slope, which is mostly little bluestem but with scattered Indian grass and big bluestem, looks great right now, especially with the fine open-grown bur oaks in the background.

I have been wanting to photograph this hillside for the past two weeks, and yesterday I finally found the time to climb the slope and take some pictures.

As those who have read the history of Pleasant Valley Conservancy know, in 1998 this hillside was mostly invasive shrubs and trees. The scene now is ten years after it was cleared and burned annually. Soon after we cleared the slope, there was only scattered prairie grasses. As the years progressed, the grasses have marched up the hill, especially in the more open areas.

This upper slope originally had lots of honeysuckles, and we have been dealing with them for most of this past ten years. Once we got rid of the big ones, we had to contend with the seed bank. We cut and herbicide-treated all the honeysuckles on this slope three times since 1998. Then last year we "finished them off" with a glyphosate foliar spray in late October, after all of the "good" vegetation had senesced and was no longer sensitive to the herbicide.

Part of my reason for climbing the slope yesterday was to assure myself that last year's work was satisfactory. The answer was yes. I did not see a single honeysuckle on the whole slope. It is encouraging to realize that with persistence one can eventually win out in this battle against invasive species!

A visitor from Colorado especially admired our south-facing slope, which he said reminded him of the short-grass prairies of eastern Colorado. Although we generally think of Wisconsin as part of the "tallgrass" prairie/savanna complex, under the harsh conditions on this sun-exposed slope we really do have a short-grass prairie.